Martin Ivens: It’s Ed Miliband who needs to U-turn now

Ed Miliband cannot hurt the coalition by direct attacks from the left. A Labour party appealing to the centre ground would be a more dangerous foe

As in a brawl, so in politics: the best time to kick a man is when he’s down.
So which opposition figure gave David Cameron, still reeling from his
U-turns over health and criminal justice, the worst thrashing last week? It
wasn’t Ed Miliband, even though he put in one of his best performances since
becoming leader, pounding his enemy mercilessly at prime minister’s
questions on Wednesday.

Although the sketch writers scored a decisive win for Labour’s leader, in the
voters’ eyes he landed no knock-out blow.

Ed had exposed Cameron’s inattention to detail, not broader policy failures.
His was a tactical victory, not a strategic one. In our YouGov poll today
his net approval score has slipped even further since last week to a net of
minus 32 — those who think he is doing well minus those who think he is
doing badly — his lowest score yet. Fifty-eight per